A comparison of estimates determined visually by divers with estimates produced by a stereo-video system

Abstract

We calculated the power of visual length estimates by novice and experienced scientific SCUBA divers and estimates generated by a stereo-video system to detect changes in the mean length of three common species of reef fish from New Zealand. Length estimates from a stereo-video system had much greater power for blue cod (mean length=33.1 cm., range 19.5-50.1 cm.) and snapper (mean length=31.7 cm., range 23-71 cm.). For a third species, red cod (mean length=42.5 cm., range 13-74 cm.), the statistical power of diver and stereo-video estimates was much less for an equivalent number of samples owing to the greater variation in the true mean length of red cod recorded at different sites. At 90% power, a stereo-video system detected a 15% (~5-cm) change in the mean length of blue cod with 63% less samples (10) than those required by the experienced scientific divers (27). Novice scientific divers required 28 samples.